Mr Bogachev, tear down that firewall! The New York Times reported Sunday that the world’s most wanted cyber criminal — worth a US$3-million bounty — not only has ties to Russian spies, but also bears a stark resemblance to Despicable Me supervillian Gru.
Well, they may not have reported that exactly but it’s hard not to make the correlation.
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Evgeniy M. Bogachev, like Gru, is a bald white man who in all likelihood has a Russian accent.
The FBI has offered a $3 million bounty for Evgeniy M. Bogachev’s capture, the most ever for a cybercriminal https://t.co/xuWvrtVNFf pic.twitter.com/XDgyo0oNrr
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 13, 2017
According to a Russian hacker currently in a Kentucky prison, Bogachev often complained of being exhausted and having too little time for his family — three adorable adoptees perhaps?
But unfortunately unlike Gru, Bogachev does not seem to have a conscience.
A Russian hacker who sounds an awful lot like Gru from Despicable Me has a US$3-million bounty on his head
The Russian hacker has ruined lives. He has drained bank accounts of hundreds of millions of US dollars, including a pest control company and a US police station — and still lives safely and lavishly in his homeland.
According to The Times, Bogachev doesn’t even bother with pseudonyms. He lives under his own name in a coastal town in Russia — which they believe is due to the fact that the Russian government see him as more an asset than a threat.
The official explanation is that Russians don’t allow the US to extradite from their country, and, until Bogachev commits a crime on Russian soil, they have no reason to arrest him.
The Times, however, believes that the Russian government have been piggybacking off his hacking — “sparing themselves the hard work of hacking into the computers themselves.”
Officials claim this happens often: the US announces a wanted Russian cyber criminal, and Russian intelligence picks them up, asking for their technical and logistical support.
So while all the similarities for lovable Gru are there, Bogachev still hasn’t found it in his heart to use his knowledge for good.
Might we suggest taking his daughters to a theme park, or perhaps even a ballet recital?
